TS

[Scum-Triumphant]

Not sure you can compare like for like with the above clubs apart from Luton Town.
Blackpool are owned by an investment banker that used to be but no longer based in Hong Kong.
Blackburn are still owned by the Venkys and a club that previously ran up debts of well over £100m.
PNE not too long ago were £8m in the red, fortunately they had Trevor Hemmings as owner, sadly TH passed away last year and I don't know who owns them.
Wigan have also recently had financial problems and have managed to overcome them.

Luton Town is the stand out one.

If we want to emulate Luton I'd be happy with that -Especially as their popular young manager had his head turned by a bigger club and it all went tits up in a few months and he returned to Luton to continue progressing them.

The Paulwarinigal Son

[Godsend.F.C.]

You say small fan base but compared to Blackpool,Blackburn ,Preston .Wigan and Luton they aren't a great deal different in numbers to us.Apart from Luton, they can all accomodate far bigger away fans than us.

Luton Town is a remarkable story, from playing in the old first division against teams like Manchester United to dropping down the leagues and a club being in turmoil when they had the big points deduction that eventually saw them out of the football league.
They got back to the championship doing it the hard way They have a sustainable financial mode of operating.
It's only this past few seasons they've spent big (by big I mean between £1m to £2m on players) helped along the way by selling two young players for over £10m.
It can be done the hard way.

[Townerslovechild]

Smaller clubs like ours can make it big,there are other examples, but...they usually spend big to do it.
In the last 20 years or so,the likes of Barnsley Blackpool, Reading, Wigan, Portsmouth, Bolton, etc,have all managed it.
I honestly think that with a good manager,some astute signings, and a chunk of luck we could make the top 6.
Sadly our best chance of this is now working elsewhere.

[howdydoo]

Re: Luton

Unless they keep developing a £5m player every year, I'm not so sure it is sustainable.

They have a wage bill that exceeds turnover in 2020 and 2021. Their next set of accounts will reflect what they did last season and will be a better gauge. They did bring a lot of experience in so it will be interesting to see if the wage bill was higher than the previous 2 seasons which was circa £14m a season.

It's a risky strategy but it nearly got them to the premier league last season. That brings them exposure which puts their playing assets in the shop window. So it's not a completely crazy approach like we've seen at the piggies, Derby, Reading etc.

[MillerBill]

What do folks think our average wage is at present? I would say it's about 5.5 k .I might be way out but what do others think?

[Grist_To_The_Mill]

Re: Luton

Unless they keep developing a £5m player every year, I'm not so sure it is sustainable.

They have a wage bill that exceeds turnover in 2020 and 2021. Their next set of accounts will reflect what they did last season and will be a better gauge. They did bring a lot of experience in so it will be interesting to see if the wage bill was higher than the previous 2 seasons which was circa £14m a season.

It's a risky strategy but it nearly got them to the premier league last season. That brings them exposure which puts their playing assets in the shop window. So it's not a completely crazy approach like we've seen at the piggies, Derby, Reading etc.

Yes indeed it us a risky strategy and it's a race that only pays out for 1,2 and 3 no matter how many runners there are. As more clubs take the " risk it" route the more difficult it becomes for the others who then feel obligated to spend even more.

Like chasing losses at a casino

[Grist_To_The_Mill]

What do folks think our average wage is at present? I would say it's about 5.5 k .I might be way out but what do others think?

Whatever number it is likely to increase if the reports in the 'tizer are true about new deals for Barlaser, Ogbene and Wiles being on the table

Assuming of course it's not a smokescreen and if true they actually accept the deals

[caytonmiller]

What do folks think our average wage is at present? I would say it's about 5.5 k .I might be way out but what do others think?

Only from what I've been told. Way out as in. That's the top wage. The AVG would be closer to 4k...
I was told last season ladapo, Smith and Harding were the top earners on £3800 ish...promotion prob got them a 25% bonus (if still hear)

[wrinkly]

Whatever number it is likely to increase if the reports in the 'tizer are true about new deals for Barlaser, Ogbene and Wiles being on the table

Assuming of course it's not a smokescreen and if true they actually accept the deals

I would be surprised if it's a smokescreen. I would be even more surprised if they accept the deals.

[Grist_To_The_Mill]

I would be surprised if it's a smokescreen. I would be even more surprised if they accept the deals.

Well assuming they are good deals and they take them, then we slip back to league 1.

Then what?